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by the public. In his field, Barnstone has done a remarkably finepiece of work and, with the help of two outstanding photog-raphers, he has produced a beautiful book. One may have reser-vations and questions regarding a few inclusions and omissions,such as the scenes of the decadence of man which are found inevery city and add nothing to the purpose of a book on architec-ture. Much space is given to the Nicholas Clayton wing of theUrsuline Convent which was razed in 1962 and the fact thatthe convent was used as a hospital during the battle of Gal-veston in the Civil War. But no mention is made of the factthat it was the still standing older part which was used as a hos-pital, where young Sidney Sherman died. Most individuals con-sider this older portion much more interesting and architecturallyappealing than the fantastic Clayton addition of a later period.The author, Visiting Critic at the Yale University School ofArchitecture and Professor of Architecture at the University ofHouston, is said to have fallen in love with Galveston's splendidold buildings when he passed through on his way to Mexico (gen-erally, this is difficult to do, but we are grateful that Barnstoneaccomplished it). Later he returned to share his discovery withJames J. Sweeney, newly arrived in Houston from the Guggen-heim Museum in New York to direct the Museum of FineArts. The idea for a book on old Galveston was born. All Texans,and particularly Galvestonians, should be grateful to Barnstonefor rescuing from oblivion and making a record of the graciousnineteenth-century way of life on the island. Every collector ofTexana should add this book to his library.ANNE A. BRINDLEYGalveston, TexasLyceum to Library: A Chapter in the Cultural History of Hous-ton. By Orin Walker Hatch. Houston (Texas Gulf CoastHistorical Association), 1965. Pp. viii+73. Illustrations, pho-tographs, appendix, bibliography, index. $3.00.The history of public library development in Texas almostinvariably leads to one or more of three sets of roots: the lyceummovement, women's club activity, and Andrew Carnegie's philan-thropy. This brief work on the forerunners to Houston's publiclibrary shows that that library was no exception.